Luo Ping has been involved in the tea industry for most of his life, beginning with his family, making premium Sichuan green and jasmine tea each year. He has a quick sense of humor and is remarkably friendly. Austin, one of the owners of Seven Cups Teas, says he is always greeted with a big hug, a trait Austin has found most uncommon in China. Luo continues to specialize in sourcing premium green and jasmine teas from Sichuan Province, but after traveling throughout China, learning of different tea methods, he’s found an affinity for Puer tea and homes a large collection of Puer Cakes in his teahouse in Chongqing.
Luo Ping was born in 1979 in Neijiang City, Sichuan Province. His uncle ran a tea factory making Sichuan green teas, where his father worked as a technician. In 1997, as the privatized economy was opening in China, Luo’s uncle and father set up their own tea company near the Medicinal Herb Wholesale market in Chengdu, only about 2 km (1.2 miles) from the now-famed Great Southwest Tea Wholesale Market, also in Chengdu. Here, they specialized in producing special-grade and first-grade green and jasmine teas. Luo Ping, around the age of 17, began learning to make tea, mentored by his father, and took charge of sales. Luo biked to the markets with samples of his family’s tea and showed talent for sales, making contracts with many tea distributors. In the early 2000s, Luo and his cousin set off on their own, venturing up E’meishan (E’mei Mountain), a tea origin that produces many of our earliest harvest green teas. Each spring, they met tea farmers in E’meishan to bring their spring teas to market. His cousin taught many of the farmers there to produce higher quality teas with hopes to help improve their small communities. Through their efforts in E’meishan, they established a reputation for high quality, micro-origin teas in the Great Southwest Tea Wholesale Market in Chengdu.
Luo Ping opened his own tea company in Chongqing in 2006, where he continues to source premium green and jasmine teas throughout Sichuan, such as Mengding Ganlu (Sweet Dew) and Bi Tan Piao Xue (Snow Drop Jasmine). He remains a dear friend of Zhuping and Austin and has brought us to meet some of his producers, such as Mu Zegang who produces a yellow tea for Seven Cups. Luo Ping’s deep knowledge of making premium teas and close connections to farmers all around Sichuan Province makes him indispensable to sourcing the finest Sichuan teas for you to enjoy.